Page 31 of Impregnated By the Bratva

Heading back down to the basement, I wondered if Pavel had successfully secured them. Stepping in, I shut the door tightly. Pavel stood in the corner, staring at a sheet on the floor before him.

“And now?” I questioned, joining him.

“The one didn’t make it,” he said flatly.

Squeezing his shoulder, I spoke calmly. “Okay, we’ll take him out later. Where are the other two?” I knew he didn’t like this part, but I couldn’t do it by myself. “Come, we have work to do. The sooner we get it done, the quicker we can settle this.”

I followed Pavel into the first side room. He had tied the guy we wanted to a chair in the middle of the room.

To one side was a long steel table with my tools spread out on it.

Chapter 16 - Grace

Walking down to the kitchen, I had a glass of water. Stomachaches weren’t something I was used to. There was a slight dampness across my face. Plus, I felt a little lightheaded. Something wasn’t right. It could be the start of a cold, I thought, sipping some water. Although my throat didn’t feel sore, I didn’t have a cough.

Walking through the house, I looked for Makari. I had to ask him to get some medicine. The house was quieter than I was used to. Pavel was always playing his music in one of the rooms. Or I would hear Makari talking to someone on the phone. He was loud.

If they had to go, they always told me. So, I was sure they were around here somewhere. I peeked into Makari’s office, the library, his room, the lounge, and even Pavle’s room. There was no sign of either of them.

This was odd, and I felt a hint of fear developing in the back of my mind as I cleared the entire house. Back in the kitchen, I held my stomach, leaning back against the counter. I tried to remember if there were any rooms I had missed.

Pavel took me on a quick tour of the house after I had settled. But I couldn’t remember if there were other places they could go. I decided to check outside and see if both their vehicles were still parked out front, so I headed for the back door.

As I reached out for the doorknob, I noticed a crack in the wall next to the door. I hadn’t seen it before. Sure, it was new. I traced my finger along the line. As I got halfway down, I felt the wall pushing in. I almost screamed as the wall gave way, but managed to keep it in.

It was a secret door with stairs leading down. Feeling positive that it was a basement, and that they had to be there, I headed down. I was about halfway down the last set of steps when I heard Makari’s voice. “Talk,” he said harshly.

Taking the last couple of steps two at a time, I almost fell into the room. Finding my balance, I felt my body freezing over as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. At first, I didn’t want to believe my eyes.

Makari was standing with his back to me. Before him was a man tied to a chair, and a couple of feet behind him was another one. Pavel stood beside Makari, holding the man's hand flat on the steel table. Makari’s one arm was raised. He was holding a hammer in it.

Makari swung down with force, smashing the man’s hand. I heard the bones breaking as the hammer made contact. His screams were muffled by a cloth stuffed into his mouth. His eyes were swollen, and blood ran down one side of his face.

I had never seen such gruesomeness in my life. I didn’t even like horror movies due to things like this. Standing there, I felt my stomach turn. My body was trembling as fear crippled me. I tried closing my eyes, but it felt like they were as big as saucers.

After my talk with Tasha and Nadia, I knew their world was bad, but this! Nothing could have prepared me to see Makari acting so animalistic and violent. I wasn’t made for the horror unfolding before me.

I tried to turn and run, but felt glued to the floor. My legs were numb, frozen to the core. This kind of brutality was inhumane. He was surely a monster as I watched him pick up a knife and jab it into the man's thigh.

Makari had pulled out the knife and pushed his finger into the hole, turning it as he screamed at the man. “Who do you work for?”

The man's scream echoed through my mind. Pavel suddenly tapped Makari on the shoulder, pointing towards me. I wanted to run, to disappear, but my body wouldn’t move. Makari stopped what he was doing and spun around.

As our eyes met, the color drained from his face. He went as white as a snow dove. I could see the shock on his face. Holding up his hands, he started coming towards me slowly.

“Grace,” he breathed out. “I can explain. It’s not as bad as it looks.”

Confusion flooded my mind as I looked from him to the man tied up in the chair. “We were only trying to get to the truth, the bottom of all this chaos,” Makari added.

Feeling life returning to my limbs, I turned and ran up the stairs. I couldn't look at the man for a second longer. I felt my breakfast pushing up as I stumbled into the kitchen.

“Grace,” I heard Makari calling from behind me somewhere.

My mind was hazy. I tried to make sense of the images, but nothing was clear. Reaching the stairway, I grabbed the railing as I huffed. Tears streamed down my face, and my lungs were on fire.

I felt Makari’s hands on my shoulders. Shaking him off, I turned and stared at him. “Grace, please,” Makari said, reaching out to me.

“No, no, no, don’t touch me!” I screamed through my sobs.

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